Trump hits out at ‘corruption and scandal’ after new charges
Trump’s backers flip the script on ‘election interference’
Mike Wendling
US disinformation reporter
With their man accused of election interference, Donald Trump’s supporters are responding by alleging… election interference.
A broad claim is emerging – that the indictment is a naked political play meant to thwart Trump’s latest presidential campaign and thus affect the outcome of the 2024 election.
The sentiment was captured in a post by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman who’s one of Trump’s biggest backers.
“The politicized and weaponized DOJ [Department of Justice] is now committing election interference with this outrageous conspiracy theory,” she wrote on social media.
The supporters are taking their cues from the top. The former president has himself shouted about “election interference” several times in different contexts on his Truth Social network.
It’s a tactic that he’s used before to defang his critics.
Remember the phrase “fake news”? That originally referred to a bizarre phenomenon whereby teenagers in the Balkans were pumping out false pro-Trump news stories to make advertising money.
But then, at a press conference shortly before he took office in 2017, Trump railed against the “fake news” media, and journalists scrambled to find other terms for the sea of online rubbish.
Maybe he hopes to similarly muddy the meaning of “election interference”. However, this time the charges will be litigated in a court of law, not just the court of public opinion.
African bloc to meet to discuss Niger coup as evacuations continue
Foreign nationals queue for flights out as regional bloc threatens force to restore democratically elected president
European countries continued with their evacuation of foreign nationals from Niger, as defence chiefs from west Africa’s regional political and security bloc were poised to meet in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to discuss last week’s coup against Niger’s democratically elected president.
The 15-nation regional bloc, Ecowas, has threatened to use force to put down the coup in Niger after delivering an ultimatum those behind the coup to restore Mohamed Bazoum as president and reinstate the constitution and democratic institutions.
Envoys from Ecowas, led by the former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar were also due to arrive in Niger’s capital, Niamey, as Nigeria’s chief of staff warned the threat of military intervention was serious.
Germany: Cases of risk to children’s welfare at record high
Ever more children in Germany are at risk of neglect or psychological, physical or sexual violence, new statistics say. Four out of five of the affected children are younger than 14 and around half under 8.
German youth welfare offices last year reported a record number of children whose welfare was at risk, with 62,300 cases registered, according to Germany‘s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
The figure represents an increase of 4%, or 2,300 cases, compared with 2021.
Altogether 203,700 cases of suspected risk to children’s well-being were assessed by youth welfare authorities, a rise of 3% compared with 2021.
The risks include those caused by neglect, psychological mistreatment or physical violence, including sexual violence.
Cleanup operation under way as Beijing reels from ‘heaviest rainfall in 140 years’
Deadly rains that pummelled China’s capital in recent days were the heaviest since records began 140 years ago, Beijing’s weather service said on Wednesday, as a massive cleanup operation began.
Millions of people have been hit by extreme weather events and prolonged heatwaves around the globe in recent weeks, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.
And the Beijing Meteorological Service said the capital has just experienced the “heaviest rainfall in 140 years”, when city authorities started keeping records.
“The maximum (amount) of rainfall recorded during this storm, which was 744.8 millimetres, occurred at the Wangjiayuan Reservoir in Changping,” the service said, adding the largest volume previously recorded was 609 millimetres in 1891.
At least 11 people have died in the rains in Beijing, state broadcaster CCTV said Tuesday, with more than a dozen missing.
Could Indigenous communities in Brazil hold key to climate justice?
Across the Amazon, Indigenous residents are developing sustainable economies centred on local production.
Under the scorching late-morning Amazon sun, dozens of people begin to approach from all corners of the woods, farming gear slung over their shoulders.
As tradition dictates, residents of the Willimon community in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous territory of Brazil’s Roraima state are coming together to help fellow farmers plough their land.
Despite the blue skies and high temperatures, it is winter, which means rainy season in the Amazon – so it is time for planting. Today, the men and women of this community are helping Telma Macuxi clear her land.
Iran orders two days of public holidays over ‘unprecedented heat’
Iran has announced that Wednesday and Thursday will be public holidays because of “unprecedented heat” and told the elderly and people with health conditions to stay indoors, Iranian state media reported.
Many cities in southern Iran have already suffered from days of exceptional heat.
State media reported temperatures had this week exceeded 51 degrees Celsius (123 Fahrenheit) in the southern city of Ahvaz.
Government spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi was quoted by state media as saying Wednesday and Thursday would be holidays, while the health ministry said hospitals would be on high alert.
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